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Wednesday, November 11, 2015

COARSE BESAN LADDOO (COARSE GRAM FLOUR BALLS WITH A CRUNCH)

COARSE BESAN LADDOO (COARSE
GRAM FLOUR BALLS WITH A CRUNCH)

One
of my neighbors sells homemade Diwali sweets and savories. I always buy
something to support her effort. This time when I went to buy I saw her making
huge batches of Besan Laddoo. Immediately I was tempted to try them at home.
She was making the Fine Besan laddoos and I wanted to try the coarse variety.

So I bought the Coarse Besan from Mustafa. We
are fortunate to get the Coarse Laddoo Besan under the Pattu Brand.

My
Maharashtrian neighbor in India used to make the best besan laddoos that we
used to savor. She always used to sort and then grind the Chana dal in a flour
mill near our house. This would ensure no compromise on the taste. The quality of the besan flour is very
important as it is the main ingredient in the laddoos. The Coarse besan laddoos taste like panjiri
laddoos and also absorb less ghee which is good.

Ingredients

Coarse Besan – 3 cups

Powdered Sugar – 1 ½ cup

Ghee – 1 cup melted

Cardamom - 4 to 5

Cashews - ½
cup

Raisins – ½ cup

Method

In a wok (pan), add 2
tablespoons of ghee and roast the Gram flour (besan) evenly by continuously
stirring it with a spatula over a medium flame until a nice toasted aroma comes
out of it.

Be careful not to burn the
besan while roasting it as it will completely ruin the taste of the laddoo.

Roasting
the flour properly is one of the biggest challenges in this recipe. If the
flour is not roasted properly there will be a raw smell to the ladoos, It’s
also not good for health.

So roast until you begin to get the lovely aroma, the color would be a yellowish golden (See the picture below).

Let the roasted besan cool down. Keep it
aside.

Powder the sugar along with
the cardamom and keep aside.

Take the cooled down roasted
besan and mix with the sugar.

Transfer this mix to a big
plate. I usually take a big plate so it’s easy for me to mix. (See the picture above)

In a saucepan,
add in the ¼ cup ghee and to it add the Cashew nuts and Raisins and fry until
the raisins become plump and the cashew nuts get slightly toasted. Remove the
fried cashew nuts and raisins and keep them aside in a plate. Keep the melted ghee.

Now add the melted ghee.

Do not pour too much ghee while making the
balls, it’s better to pour little by little....Like how we pour water for
making sand play. If all the ghee is poured at one time, the mixture may become
very greasy and the flour may not bind well to shape the laddoo. The laddoos
will be soft and collapse as well. Take some Besan add the ghee and make balls.

This recipe is easy for beginners to follow. You can’t go wrong with the
measurements of ghee thanks to the coarse besan. Add enough ghee to help enable
to make balls. Once, you have added the ghee, make small tight balls out of the
mixture immediately. If your flour looks dry, add the ghee as needed little by little. And if your flour looks greasy,
do not add more ghee.

While making the balls, take one piece of
cashew and 1 piece of raisin and make a ball. This will ensure that every
laddoo gives u a piece of the cashew nut and the raisin.

Coarse Besan Laddoo is ready
for you’ll to enjoy!!!

Tips

• To
make the fine besan laddoo - Take the cooled down roasted besan and mix with
the sugar and run in the blender till it becomes one uniform mixture and follow
as above. The finer the blend the more
melt-in-the mouth the laddoo’s will be.